Empty seats greet Kobe-less Lakers on Saturday

Fans show their support at the preseason game between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors at Citizens Business Bank Area in Ontario on Saturday. The game drew a small crowd.
rachel luna — staff photographer

The exhibition game Saturday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena dwas far from a sellout – a stark contrast to previous five preseason games when the deafening sound of the crowd greeted Kobe Bryant and company to the Inland Empire.

Figures show 6,946 tickets were sold, even though some say the crowd was significantly less, where in years past more than 10,000 have attended, annually.

One analyst believes the reason for the unusually low turnout at this weekend’s game was the absence of the team’s star, Kobe Bryant.

Without Bryant, who is still out of the country, at tonight’s exhibition, attendance is expected be no different than the weekend.

“Kobe is this team and this brand. When you know Kobe is not going to play, it is going to have a significant effect on attendance,” says Jeff C. Fellenzer, who teaches the course Sports, Business, Media at USC Annenberg.

But Fellenzer also points to Saturday’s lineup which featured Steve Blake, Jodie Meeks, Nick Young, Jordan Hill and Chris Kaman.

“If there is no personal guarantee a player who most of the crowd is familiar with are not going to play, then they are not going to pay. It shows again the state of brand names in the NBA,” he said.

Tickets sales would have done much better had Kobe at least showed up to the game, even if he didn’t play, Fellenzer said.

Steve Eckerson, general manager of the Citizens Business Bank Arena, has been at all five previous preseason Lakers games in Ontario and can’t help but agree with Fellenzer’s analysis.

“It was widely known that Kobe wasn’t going to play,” he said. “Last year there wasn’t a guarantee if Kobe would play, he was a game-time decision. He didn’t play but he was there and got a huge standing ovation.”

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Eckerson said he was disappointed with the turnout but between the two games he expects one of the largest crowds at the arena since it opened in 2008. Eckerson wouldn’t release pre-sale figures for tonight’s game.

Even though there were whole sections of blue empty seats, Eckerson is billing both games as a success. Fans did scoop up all of the seats priced at $25 in the balcony and $375 for courtside, in each game. The hardest sell was for tickets ranging from $40 to $135, he said.

Fellenzer acknowledges the lack of star power wasn’t the only factor to the small crowd, adding that ticket prices do have an impact, especially for a preseason game.

The addition of a second preseason game in Ontario may have “diluted the one-time experience,” for fans as well as ticket sales, he said.

Gabriel Chagolla of Rancho Cucamonga had a hard time trying to sell six tickets to Saturday’s game on behalf of his mother.

“The main reason is Kobe. When I posted the tickets on Facebook everybody kept telling me, ‘Why am I going to go when Kobe’s not there?’” Chagolla said. “I thought, ‘Wow, Kobe has that much impact?’”

Chagolla said that his mother actually forget she had the tickets so he attempted to sell them for her only a couple of days in advance. He was able to sell four of the tickets, and Chagolla’s parents used the other pair, he said.

But because attendance was so low, Chagolla said his parents were able to sit closer to the court.

In years past, Chagolla and more than a dozen members of his family have attended the Lakers games at the arena.

“It was so crowded,” he recalled.

Eckerson said he recalls those crowds, adorned in purple and gold, holding up signs. The difference then was that Kobe was present at each of those exhibitions, even if he didn’t play all of them.

“I think back to two (games) ago when the game went into overtime, you thought it was a playoff game,” Eckerson said of the crowd.

With five years of consistency attracting large crowds, Eckerson said, the Lakers organization has noticed.

“They are already talking about two games next year. (Owner) Jeanie Buss knows the (Lakers) have a lot of fans here,” he said. “It shows how pleased the Lakers are playing in the Inland Empire, and we like having them.”

Some sports analysts have dubbed the 2013-14 Laker season as a rebuilding year. But teams in major markets such as in New York and Los Angeles don’t have the luxury of having rebuilding years, or a lack of stars. Fellenzer said it becomes a challenge for the Lakers to retain their core fan base even if they lose their star power.

It’s likely that season ticket sales may have an impact, “if you don’t have that kind of brand names,” he said.

“This is a glimpse of what life might be without Kobe,” Fellenzer said. “When Kobe leaves the Lakers someone has to be ready to take his place to replace that star power.”

About the Author

Liset covers the cities of Upland, Claremont, Rancho Cucamonga as well as LA/Ontario International Airport. Reach the author at liset.marquez@langnews.com
or follow Liset on Twitter: @JournaLiset.